A small break from the Satyam journey here and we turn up towards the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The issue of a Central University.
With great fanfare two years back govt. of India announced an IIM to be set up in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This move was an apt one which would have put the state of Jammu and Kashmir on the national and corporate level obviously for the good reasons. An IIM is a brand that would have served the state in many ways. The employment generation would have a direct impact and state would have benefitted directly. The people of Kashmir which have over the years complained of so called national bias and hatred would have come got vitalized by this apex institution. The ailing industrial sector might have also benefitted from it as well since IIM not only provides the education but also acts as the consulting media. We have the examples of cities like Ahmadabad, Bangalore, and Kolkata where the development got a boost because of these institutions. Definitely these cities do have something extra but IIMs always would have acted as a ready recknor for the corporate world around. If we again go by the stats we have major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad already on the world map and the reasons being the positive ones. The level of development that has occurred in these cities thanks to the presence of some of the world class institutions and IIMs/IITs / ISBs lead from the front.
Enter the issue of central university which was sanctioned by the prime minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh in his address to the people of Jammu. Mr. Prime Minister approved this university to be set up in Jammu thereby balancing the act with IIM to be set up in Kashmir division and the central university to come up in Jammu. Even people of Jammu and Kashmir had taken this as a great step in the development of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. But some of the elements within us did not found this as in line with their motives and created another furore by establishing the office of central university in Kashmir. The divisive elements wanted a chance and here it was. Jammu and Kashmir which is already into the state of polarization after the Amarnath Row again started moving into the daily dharnas, stage demonstrations and processions for a cause which truly represented Jammunities anger and disgust towards the discrimination. Chief Minister again got into the dilemma of what to do and how to come out of this situation. Mr Omar would be sometimes cursing why all these issues are cropping up into his time only. But what it will make him is more strong and more thoughtful. The best part of Omar is his age and if will prevails he can truly rise to the top among his compatriots. All he needs is good guidance and proper nurturing which is possible only by having strong willed people who have got that urge to do the justice. Being the chief he promised to have another central university sanctioned for the state. What started were a series of parleys with Government of India ending into getting another central university sanctioned for the state. Full credits to him for this success. Full marks to the people involved in the peaceful agitation, students and political parties who woke the state government from deep slumber. But the government of India had to compensate the same with tradeoff of some kind and tradeoff in this case proved out to be that of IIM. Mr Sibal announced that state will not be given the IIM with the logic being that the funds sanctioned for the same would be used for the development of another central university. A big loss for the state of Jammu and Kashmir anyway when the state already had couple of good universities in the kitty; Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Baba Ghulam Shah University, SKUAST in addition to the coveted Jammu university and Kashmir University.
Having a central university in place of an IIM may be beneficial to the students but an IIM would have attracted corporate attention which would have benefitted the state in the long run and that too when this IIM would have been one of this kind in the entire northern region. What could have been done to cater to this would have been shifting the central university to Kashmir and IIM to Jammu a move that would have benefitted the state in the ways already discussed above. This would have had the balancing act as well and thereby benefitting people as well. IIM would have proved to be an asset for the state and the complete map/ picture would have been different. Hope the sense prevails and we have an apex institution like IIM/ IIT in our state soon.
Enter the issue of central university which was sanctioned by the prime minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh in his address to the people of Jammu. Mr. Prime Minister approved this university to be set up in Jammu thereby balancing the act with IIM to be set up in Kashmir division and the central university to come up in Jammu. Even people of Jammu and Kashmir had taken this as a great step in the development of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. But some of the elements within us did not found this as in line with their motives and created another furore by establishing the office of central university in Kashmir. The divisive elements wanted a chance and here it was. Jammu and Kashmir which is already into the state of polarization after the Amarnath Row again started moving into the daily dharnas, stage demonstrations and processions for a cause which truly represented Jammunities anger and disgust towards the discrimination. Chief Minister again got into the dilemma of what to do and how to come out of this situation. Mr Omar would be sometimes cursing why all these issues are cropping up into his time only. But what it will make him is more strong and more thoughtful. The best part of Omar is his age and if will prevails he can truly rise to the top among his compatriots. All he needs is good guidance and proper nurturing which is possible only by having strong willed people who have got that urge to do the justice. Being the chief he promised to have another central university sanctioned for the state. What started were a series of parleys with Government of India ending into getting another central university sanctioned for the state. Full credits to him for this success. Full marks to the people involved in the peaceful agitation, students and political parties who woke the state government from deep slumber. But the government of India had to compensate the same with tradeoff of some kind and tradeoff in this case proved out to be that of IIM. Mr Sibal announced that state will not be given the IIM with the logic being that the funds sanctioned for the same would be used for the development of another central university. A big loss for the state of Jammu and Kashmir anyway when the state already had couple of good universities in the kitty; Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Baba Ghulam Shah University, SKUAST in addition to the coveted Jammu university and Kashmir University.
Having a central university in place of an IIM may be beneficial to the students but an IIM would have attracted corporate attention which would have benefitted the state in the long run and that too when this IIM would have been one of this kind in the entire northern region. What could have been done to cater to this would have been shifting the central university to Kashmir and IIM to Jammu a move that would have benefitted the state in the ways already discussed above. This would have had the balancing act as well and thereby benefitting people as well. IIM would have proved to be an asset for the state and the complete map/ picture would have been different. Hope the sense prevails and we have an apex institution like IIM/ IIT in our state soon.
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